The Gantt Report
By Lucius Gantt
My favorite rap group is “The Last Poets”. I know many Gantt Report readers don’t have a clue who they are. Google them and after that go to YouTube and listen to my favorite Last Poets song, “E Pluribus Unum”.
Conscious readers will want to download it and play it for friends and family, especially teenage children.
This column is about how some exploited and mistreated Africans and African Americans are afraid to do the right things, so to speak.
I applaud the college students who are protesting the killing of Palestinian women and children under the false rationale that every Palestinian is a member of Hamas or that wartime hostages are being held in hospitals, schools, and religious buildings.
I know for a fact that all Jews don’t hate Palestinians, all Jews don’t seek to take land from Palestinian families and businesses with “colonial and settler schemes”, and all Jews don’t want Palestinians to live and work in apartheid-like conditions that make a two-state solution practically impossible.
It’s Benjamin Netanyahu and his Zionist-leaning right-wing government and the super-radical members of Hamas that pose problems that result in war.
Anyway, The Last Poets recorded a song (used in the “Malcolm X movie” called “Niggers Are Scared of Revolution” that is still relevant today!
Some Black people all over the world are afraid to stand up, afraid to speak out, afraid to fight for freedom, afraid to fight for righteousness, and afraid to fight the fights that need to be fought.
Bobby Henry, of the NNPA (National Newspaper Publishers Association) once told me, “You say what others feel and believe but are reluctant to say.”
Thank you, Bobby, but The Gantt Report tries to write the truth whether the column is adored or not.
People love Biblical figures like Joshua, Sampson, David, and others who fought for equal rights and justice but significant numbers of people of color don’t want to be like Kunta Kinte was in “Roots”, they prefer to emulate Stephan in “D’Jango”.
We don’t want to lose our position, we don’t want to lose our status, we don’t want to lose our titles, we don’t want to lose our jobs, we don’t want to lose our scholarships, we don’t want to lose the fake love and false promises of our enemies that pose as our friends, and we don’t want to lose our “wood floors to sleep on” like Fiddler, another “Roots” character.
Well, if you suffer a loss for being correct, being worthy, being valuable, being protective, being courageous, and being honest, in God’s eyes, your loss was a good thing! God will keep and protect His soldiers.
Could it be possible that we live in ghettos, barrios, and slums because we’re afraid to confront people who are quick to take our money but slow to maintain what they were paid to maintain?
Do we have challenging health issues because we are afraid to question health care providers?
Will our children experience poor learning because we are afraid to fight book bans and the elimination of affirmative action, DEI and CRT programs, discussions, and classes?
Black people my age might be afraid to watch “Ghostbusters” but nowadays, like in the past, we need to motivate, inspire, and assist the young Black warriors.
We should teach our youth to fight our enemies. We must stop them from fighting and killing each other.
Our struggles continue. We can’t depend on others to fight our battles. God is on our side!
As always, the only thing to fear is fear itself.
Don’t ever be scared to fight for what you should fight for. Students around the world are doing the right thing when they protest wicked behavior by people in power.
At the same time, I’ve seen protesters come and go and take their issues with them when they leave. Don’t act like you never heard of Dream Defenders, Occupy Wall Street, and other “movements”.
When you fight for freedom, you must fight to win, and you cannot win if you’re afraid.
